María Pagés. News: Archivos Octubre 2008

Anubis Galardy. Havana, 30th October (PL)

Havana, 30th Oct (PL). She stepped into the dusk of the stage in Havana like a shadow, and the light first was drawn to her upraised arms and then in a fine line, broken at times, to her Flamenco dancer silhouette.
"Ergo unarosa e tudo se ilumina"(It is a rose and all lights up... it is a rose, a body and a destiny). The written word and dance, united in the same poetical stream. Flamenco set loose in the fiery blood of the dancer.
Seville in Havana; Art erases frontiers. That Seville that Maria Pagés left over 15 years ago and to which she is forever returning, in each and every instant of her dancing, no matter where she may be in the world.

The María Pagés Company has been awarded the Media Prize for the Best Performance in the Flamenco Biennial, in it's 15th edition, in Seville. The critics were unanimous in their choice of this show above the 54 others that were competing this year.

The award is granted by the specialized press attending the Biennial (which has just finalised) within the 1st edition of the "Mario Maya" Media Prizes - named so as a tribute to the late dancer.

ABC, Seville Edition 27-09-08-MARTA CARRASCO

Real artists are those strange beings that shake at the idea of going on stage, but in the end can't live without it. An artist whose Art is dancing suffers in this same way, but what makes it even worse is that they have to use their bodies to express what others do with words or music.
One day María Pagés found herself with one of the great dance myths, Mijail Baryshnikov, who asked her to create an intimate performance in which she should paint her own portrait, expressing herself just ass she feels she is - in this way, after giving it much thought, "Selfportrait" was born; last night was the début of the show in Spain, in the Teatro de la Maestranza (Seville).

Pagés's work, up till now, has made us used to the use of stage design, luminosity and elements such as paintings or videos as being important parts of each performance, but the simplicity of "Selfportrait" will surprise us. Like a minimalist painter, Maria Pagés has eliminated from the stage any element that she feels could disturb this intimate story she is telling us, her dance is telling us the story of the state of her soul.

Diario de Sevilla.  Rosalía Gómez (20-09-2008)

As in poetry, there are some times when what is most intimate, most personal, can also be what is most universal. This is what happened last night in the Teatro Maestranza, Seville. We were expecting a one to one experience with María Pagés and this is what we got, but the experience was bountiful, full of nostalgia, music, poems..... a performance of great beauty, a pleasure for our senses and our hearts.

There are always moments in life - especially those that end certain periods of time - in which one should be selfish and do something for oneself. This moment came for María Pagés - always so busy with her dance company, her beautiful stage designs, her ideas for choreographies - when the mythical Mijail Baryshnikov, none other, invited her to his New York Dance Centre, inviting her to simply create something personal.

El País, September 28, 2008

The title says it all.  Her excellence in delivery and expression defies further superlatives. Maria Pagés's new creation is deep and deliberate, an introspection and inward voyage where she harvests the fruits of a bountiful career filled with stellar moments. Her Self-Portrait is in part a look at these performances while showing us the dancer from all angles, a long sequence of images in motion. When it is the moment for a "soleá" or a "tiento" we see the contained scholar dancing with a half moon stage drop behind her. The scholarly dancer in Maria is also apparent in her seemingly simple but effective choreographies, which develop with astonishing fluidity, as well as in her constant search for new forms of expression and display.